Why buy new clothes?

I can never understand a parent’s need to make their children fashion-conscious. If you have the money to do so, I guess you can choose to do what you like. But, there are others who lack the money, but insist that their children wear designer labels, etc. Why?

First of all, children outgrow everything very quickly. Not only do they outgrow the, they outlast them. Children are usually quite rambunctious, so their clothes are often well-soiled and well-worn. If you are short on cash, it makes no sense to continuously buy expensive clothes.

The last few jumble sales I’ve attended, I’ve managed to find some decent clothes for my girls to run around in. They still had plenty of wear left and these were meant for them to wear for play. Needless to say, if there were nicer clothes, meant for church or school, I would have bought them as well. (But, sometimes, it is nice to get them a nice dress for the holidays.) Yet, how can you resist good everyday clothes for 20p each? Even charity shops can’t offer that.

Now, I wouldn’t do the same for shoes. Shoes take on the shape of their owner’s feet, so used shoes never fit well. Besides, I always worry about the cleanliness of worn shoes. Sometimes, I feel the same about hats, but it’s not often that we buy hats, anyway. Used socks and underwear? No thanks.